


A Kind of Magic

by Clarrotttt



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28910508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clarrotttt/pseuds/Clarrotttt
Summary: -A fic that follows Dudley Dursley's magical daughter during her times at Hogwarts.-I completely reject The Cursed Child, which would overlap with this, though I did decide to put Albus in Slytherin.-On that same note, I really hate Albus' cannon middle name, and I think he should have been named Albus Regulus Potter. (I have a post about this onmy tumblrif you are curious as to why)-Thank youJaneandOliviafor being amazing beta readers and keeping me sane!-I am not British, so please excuse my minimal knowledge of British slang!
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

July 23, 2019

It was an interesting morning in the Potter household. Lily had gotten her long-awaited Hogwarts letter that morning, and now she and her brothers were having a very noisy conversation about what all they needed from Diagon Alley, and Ginny was doing her best to calm them down.  


“Can’t we go today, Mum?” James asked, “I’m Quidditch Captain this year! Dad said I could get a new broom if I was made captain!”  


“Harry, you what?!” Ginny called upstairs. Harry sighed.  


“That was a joke. I didn’t expect him to get captain until next year at least!” He shouted back down.  


“Well, your birthday isn’t that far off, James. You never know,” Ginny said with a small smirk. The phone started ringing. Everyone jumped. Harry had tried his best to raise his children with as much exposure to muggle life as possible, but they were wizards, nonetheless.  


“Harry, the telly-bone is ringing!” Ginny called up. She’d taken to calling it that, even though she definitely knew what it was by now.  


“Who is it?” He called back down, starting down the stairs,  


“Oi! I want to answer it!” James yelled,  


“I think it’s your cousin, Harry,” Ginny said to Harry. She turned to James, “I think we’d better let your dad answer this one, sorry.”  


Harry wondered why on earth Dudley would be calling. Dudley knew it was easier to use the post with Harry, or else things like this happened. Well, he’d find out soon enough.  


“Hello?” He said into the phone.  


“Hi Harry, er, this is Dudley,”  


“Yeah, Ginny told me. What happened? Is it your parents?”  


“No, Mum’s still sick, Dad is fine. It’s Alice. We, er, well, we got a letter, this morning. From the magic school you went to."  


“You what?”  


“A letter. Alice is a witch.”  


“You- Alice? What about Scott?”  


“He’s ten. He’s not awake yet. I really don’t know what’s going on. Why couldn’t they send someone? To explain it all?”  


“I think they usually do, for muggle-born students,”  


“Well why didn’t we get that? I don’t know where to get Dragonhide gloves, or a pewter cauldron-”  


“Well, that’s what I’m for, I guess. Are you busy later today?”  


“Not really, why?”  


“I’ll meet you in London. At noon, maybe? Bring Alice with you. Call me when you get there and tell me where to meet you. You have one of those mobile phones, right?”  


“Yeah, that’s fine. And Harry?”  


“Yeah?”  


“Thank you”  


Dudley hung up the phone. Harry stood there for a moment, shocked.  


“What’d he say?” Ginny asked, finally.  


“His daughter, Alice. She got a Hogwarts letter this morning,” Harry replied, still standing by the phone.  


“She’s Lily’s age, isn’t she?”  


“Yeah, she turned 11 in November. I said I’d meet them in London, today.”  


“Today?”  


“Well, James was asking and we’ve nothing else to do, so I don’t see why not.”  


“Right. You said noon?”  


“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a prologue- normal chapters will be longer, and mostly from Alice's perspective.  
> I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Year 1: The Hogwarts Express

September 1, 2019

Alice Petunia Dursley stood on platform 9 ¾ and asked herself for the millionth time if it was all a dream. A hot wind blew from under the train, making her sweatshirt fly and the owl sitting on her trolley hooted quietly. Definitely not a dream. She had an owl, first of all. She had never even dreamed of having an owl, but here she was, with a beautiful barn owl named Winny sitting right in front of her. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known magic existed, but she never expected that she would be magic. Dad had always made magic seem like a nuisance; mildly dangerous, and not something to ever think about. No one had expected Alice to be a witch.

It was a miracle that she, Lily, and Hugo all made it on to the train on time. Hugo kept forgetting things, and wherever Hugo went, Lily went, and Alice didn’t know anyone other than Lily. When they finally made it onto the train, almost all of the compartments were full. 

“I am NOT sitting with Albus, I don’t care if there’s room!” Lily insisted. Alice didn’t mind Albus. He was quiet, like her, even though his friend Scorpius was a bit weird. 

“I don’t mind him, Lily, and it’s not as if we’re going to find anywhere else to sit.” Hugo said grumpily. Alice hoped he wouldn’t always be this grumpy, not if she had to spend seven years with him. They finally found an empty compartment. It was still a bit too close to Albus’s compartment for Lily’s liking, but as Hugo said, there wasn’t really anywhere else. 

“So,” Hugo said as they sat down, “Houses. I’m going to be in Gryffindor. If I’m not, I don’t think my Dad will speak to me again.”

“He’s your dad, Hugo. He can’t do that. I don’t really care, at this point. I’ll probably be Gryffindor, but Mum and Dad were fine with Albus being in Slytherin, so I really don’t it matters. What about you, Alice?”

“Hmm?”

“What house do you think you’ll be in?”

“I don’t really know what that means, but-”

“She’ll definitely be in Ravenclaw. She hasn’t set down that book since we met at the station,” Hugo said to Lily. It was true. She’d been reading a book about chess theory on and off for the entire journey.

“Your mom is like that, and she was in Gryffindor,” Lily responded.

“Yeah, but Dad says she was different when they were younger. A bit of a know-it-all. Alice isn’t like that.” Alice smiled, behind her book. Hugo had known her for about an hour, and he was already defending her. 

“What does any of it mean, anyway?” Alice said, closing her book, “Just because I’m related to wizards doesn’t mean I know how they work.” She’d been prepared to get angry, but it was a lot harder to get angry at Hugo than expected.

“Well, there are four houses at Hogwarts…” Hugo started. He launched into a very detailed history about Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. After a while, it seemed like he was talking to Lily more than Alice, and she fell asleep.

“Hey, Alice, we need to change into our robes now,” Lily said, gently shaking Alice’s shoulder. 

“Are we there yet?” Alice replied. There was a new face in their compartment. She was a small girl, with a mass of brown curls and a lot of freckles.

“Not quite. This is Aoife.” Lily said, indicating the new girl.

“Our parents are friends” Aoife said, “You’re Lily’s muggle cousin, right?” She sounded Irish, even though she didn’t look it. 

“Erm, my dad and Lily’s dad are cousins, I think. It’s a bit complicated, really.”

“Wizards are all related. You get used to it eventually,” Aoife replied as she ruffled around in the bag next to her. “The trolley came around while you were sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you. We’ve got a bit of everything here, take your pick.”

Hugo and Aoife had saved a large mountain of sweets from the trolley for Alice, which was the nicest thing anyone had done for her in a very long time. She hoped everyone at Hogwarts would be as nice as Hugo and Aoife. She had never heard of any of the sweets before and listened intently as Hugo explained the concept of chocolate frogs.

“Well, they sometimes hop away, but the real treat isn’t the chocolate.”

“But it’s chocolate!”

“But the cards! The cards are what you really want.”

“Whatever.” Alice opened one, and screamed as the frog landed right on her face. The compartment dissolved into chaos. Aoife fell sideways into Hugo laughing, and Hugo dropped the box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans he was holding, all while Lily was trying to catch the wayward frog, which was now up in the luggage rack. Alice burst out laughing and tried not to snort as Lily jumped onto the other seat in her fruitless attempts at catching the frog. After several minutes of continued pandemonium, all four of them shared the finally captured frog and Alice finally got a good look at the card at the bottom of the box.

“Hang on, isn’t this your dad?” She asked, showing the card to Lily, who rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Ugh, yeah. He collects them too. Can I trade you a Dumbledore? Or-”

“Wait. Go back a bit. Why is your dad on a chocolate frog card? Is he famous or something? I thought you said he was a teacher?”

“Erm, yeah. Saved the wizarding world twice, and then he-” Hugo filled in, but Lily interrupted him.

“Wait, Alice, you don’t know about Dad?”

“Erm, no.”

“Well, that’s a problem. There’s a book about him, even. We have it at home, of course, but I didn’t think to bring it. Everyone here knows the story backwards at this point.” Lily looked concerned, Aoife looked like she was about to burst out laughing again, and Hugo just looked dumbstruck. Alice blushed and read the card. It said four words: 

The Boy Who Lived

“The boy who lived,” she whispered to herself, quietly, “What on earth does that mean?” Aoife burst out laughing again. Her laugh was like music, and before long they were all laughing together again. Alice hoped that the next seven years were just like this; just her and her new friends laughing their faces off without a care in the world. 

It started getting dark, and Hugo was talking about Hogwarts houses again. They had all changed into their robes by then, their ties still solid black. Hugo had explained that the ties would change colours after they got sorted, though he didn’t know how. Alice just knew it was magic. Everything was magic in the wizarding world. Train? Magic. Sweets? Magic. Pictures? Magic. People? Magic, and really, really nice. All the wizards Alice had met so far had been extremely kind and helpful, especially Lily, who had told her everything she needed to know about witches and wizards back in July. 

“I think that’s Hogsmede!” Lily said, peering out of the window.

“What’s that?”

“Hogsmede. It’s a wizarding village, and it’s where the train station is.” Hugo answered. Lily checked her book bag, making sure everything was still there. Her notebook, pencils, quills, ink, and camera were all secure in the various compartments of her bag, and her book was on the seat next to her, long abandoned in favour of Lily, Hugo, and Aoife. Knowing it would be safer in her book bag than out in the open, she stowed it away. She had no idea how they were going to get the compartment cleaned up in time. If Lily really had seen the station, then they only had minutes to get rid of the mess of wrappers, boxes, and food that littered the compartment. Alice was about to say something when Lily’s oldest brother appeared outside.

“Hey, Marley told me to check on you. We’re almost there,” James said to Lily. He eyed the mess they had made and raised a single eyebrow. “You lot certainly had fun. Do you want help cleaning up?”

“We don’t need your help, James. Go away.” Lily said, crossing her arms and facing the window. James rolled his eyes and turned to leave, but Alice thought they really could use the older boy’s help.

“Actually, that’d be great!” Alice said quickly.

“What?”

“Erm, help? With the mess? We could certainly use it.”

James laughed, and Lily rolled her eyes. The two looked remarkably similar, even though Lily’s hair was shocking red, and James’ was jet black. Two spells later, and the compartment was looking much better. Lily didn’t even look annoyed anymore.

“Right. I’d better get back, but I’ll see you lot up at the castle.” There was shouting from further down in the carriage, and James stepped out to yell back.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

“Bye James! Your girlfriend wants you!” Lily teased,

“For the last time, Marley is not my girlfriend,” James retorted, and he stormed away. Aoife laughed again, and an announcement played through the train:

“We will be reaching Hogsmeade station in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

A jolt of excitement ran through Alice’s veins. Her life in the wizarding world was about to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aoife is pronounced EE-fa  
> I hope you enjoyed!


	3. Year 1: The Sorting

Hogwarts was even more exciting than Alice expected. None of Hugo’s stories could have prepared her for the giant, beautiful castle. She couldn’t tear her eyes away as they crossed the lake on magical boats. And then they were inside the castle itself, where they were met by a wizard in black robes. He didn’t look much older than Alice’s parents.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” he said. “I’m Professor Longbottom.” He told the group of first years all about the sorting, and the houses, and the feast, which was all a bit boring as Hugo had said all of it on the train. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of talking, they were let into the great hall. It was truly magnificent. Alice’s mouth fell open as she looked up at the floating candles, and the ceiling. The ceiling was even more magical than she ever could have imagined magic could be. Hugo had talked about it, of course, but nothing could have prepared her for the gorgeous night sky above. Alice would never, ever get tired of magic.

Sometime while Alice had been looking at the ceiling, Professor Longbottom had set a battered old hat on a stool in front of what Alice assumed was the teacher’s table. She spotted Uncle Harry sitting next to a man with red hair who looked like Hugo. Just as she was wondering who on earth would want such a shabby old hat, the hat started to sing. It sang on, and on, and on, all about the houses (seriously, why did everyone talk about the houses so much), its own history, and a bit about the war that had ended over 20 years ago. She assumed that was the war that made Uncle Harry famous. After the hat was done, Professor Longbottom produced a long scroll from inside his robes.

“Right. When I call your name, please come up and put on the hat.” He cleared his throat, then started. Abbott, Martha was sorted into Hufflepuff. Avery, Nathaniel became the first new Slytherin. The list went on. Crawley, Beatrice was sorted into Ravenclaw. Thankfully, Alice’s last name started with a D, so it wasn’t long before her name was called.

“Dursley, Alice”

She looked up at the stool, suddenly queasy. Uncle Harry gave her a small smile from the staff table, and she walked over, put the hat on her head, and braced herself for whatever would come next. She almost jumped off the stool as the hat began to talk to her:

“Hmmm, let’s see… you’ve got quite the brain in there, maybe Ravenclaw?”

“What does that mean?” she whispered as quietly as she could

“It means you’re curious. Now let’s see… you’re a loyal one, aren’t you? You’ve only known your friends for a few hours, and you’d move heaven and earth for them, maybe Hufflepuff?” The hat paused. “But no… I see… Let’s do RAVENCLAW!”

Applause erupted from the Ravenclaw table. Alice set the hat back on the stool and smiled. Hugo had said she would probably be in Ravenclaw, and he was right. Was Hugo wrong about anything, really? Who knew? He hadn’t been wrong yet. 

Alice sat down next to the other Ravenclaw first year, who was quietly watching the sorting.

“Hi,”

“Oh, hello,” the girl turned away from the ceremony.

“You’re Beatrice Crawley, right?”

“It’s Bea. No one calls me Beatrice. And you’re Alice.”

“Yeah.” The conversation stopped. Bea seemed much more interested in watching as Fawcett, 

Ian was sorted in to Ravenclaw, and Alice wasn’t great at making small talk. Aoife’s last name started with F; she would probably be next. Alice took Bea’s example, and drew herself out of her thoughts. Figg, Maya was sorted in to Hufflepuff, and then:

“Aoife, Finnegan-Thomas.”

Aoife gave a quick smile to Alice, and then walked up to the stool. She carefully put the hat on her head and closed her eyes. Please be Ravenclaw, please be Ravenclaw, Alice hoped. She would die if she was stuck with only Bea Crawley for the next seven years. After a few long moments, the hat shouted:

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Alice’s heart sank as the farthest table erupted in cheers. Aoife slid into a seat next to an older witch with the same wild hair. Alice thought they must be sisters, and the way the older one hugged Aoife confirmed it. A twang of jealousy ran through Alice. She had always wanted a sister. All she had was an annoying younger brother. Goldstein, Caroline was sorted into Ravenclaw, and sat down on Alice’s other side.

“You’re Alice, right?”

“Yeah.” Granger-Weasley, Hugo was being sorted. It wasn’t long before the hat yelled, 

“GRYFFINDOR!” And Hugo joined Aoife and her sister. Alice had hoped that at least one of her new friends would be in her house, but of course they all came from Gryffindor families, so to Gryffindor they went. She held out hope for Lily as Higgs, Caleb was sorted into Slytherin.

“Was he a friend of yours?” Caroline asked, noticing Alice’s forlorn expression.

“Yeah. He’s technically my cousin, I think, but it’s not like that matters now.”

“That’s fine, I’ll be your friend. My sister’s in Gryffindor too, but it’s her last year.”

“Oh. Don’t you want to be with her? Or do you not get along? My brother’s so annoying, but he’s younger-” 

“Will you two be quiet? I’m trying to watch the ceremony!” Bea interrupted.

“Whatever, Beatrice.” Caroline grumbled as Macbay, Scarlett was sorted into Ravenclaw as well.

“It’s Bea, and please, for the love of Merlin, shut up!” Nott, Lucasta was sorted into Slytherin, and glared at Alice as she sat down. 

“What did I do?” Alice asked, as Scarlett sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“That’s Lucasta Nott,” Scarlett answered. She sounded Scottish. “She’s a raging pureblood supremacist, and I’m assuming you’re muggle-born. Wait- what’s your name again?” Hugo had explained all about blood status and whatnot on the train, but he made it sound like after the war all the problems were solved. Apparently, Hugo was wrong about some things.

“Alice. Alice Dursley,” she introduced herself, “This is Caroline,” Alice nudged her new friend playfully, “And that’s Bea, but she won’t say anything to us. Other than telling us to shut up, of course.” Bea inhaled sharply at the insult but didn’t turn around to face them.

“Nice to meet you lot. In case you didn’t hear the hat, I’m Scarlett.”

“I can barely hear the hat over you three,” Bea interjected, still not turning. She was met with eyerolls, but before Alice had time to get properly annoyed, Professor Longbottom called:

“Potter, Lily!”

The entire hall went quiet. Uncle Harry sat up straighter. Alice’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the edge of her seat. The hat thought for a moment, and then called out:

“RAVENCLAW!”

Alice was flooded with relief. She didn’t mind Caroline and Scarlett, of course, but Lily was her cousin, and it was a comfort to know that she wouldn’t be alone up in Ravenclaw tower. Lily beamed and skipped over to the Ravenclaw table, where she sat down next to Scarlett. 

“You should have seen Hugo’s face!” Lily said, still beaming.

“Who’s Hugo?” Caroline and Scarlett asked at the same time, then burst out laughing. Alice could practically feel Bea rolling her eyes.

“My cousin,” Lily answered, also giggling, “He’s in Gryffindor. He thought I would be too.”

“Wait,” Caroline asked, looking between Alice and Lily, “Hugo Granger-Weasley? You two are related?”

“Everyone’s related in the wizarding world,” Alice said, remembering Aoife’s words from earlier.

“We’re second cousins,” Lily said, “and that’s an exaggeration, Alice. Pretty much every pureblood family married into the Blacks at some point, so they’re all related, but our parents fought a war over it, and now there are only a few families left that cling to all that pureblood nonsense. The Notts, obviously, and the Averys. Most of the others are in Azkaban, I think.”

“Let me guess. Hugo was overly interested in blood purity at some point?” Alice asked.

“Well, the Second Wizarding War, but yeah. We were ten, it was all he talked about for months.”

“Why isn’t he in Ravenclaw? He seems to know everything about, well, everything.”

“He knows everything about the Hogwarts founders and the Second Wizarding War. I wouldn’t call that everything.” This made Caroline and Scarlett laugh, and Bea rolled her eyes yet again as Scamander, Lorcan joined Ravenclaw table, followed shortly by what Alice could only assume was his twin, Scamander, Lysander. They were almost identical, both with wavy blonde hair and the same blue eyes. Lorcan’s hair was curlier and shorter, though, and Lysander had more freckles. They sat down on the other end of the table, by Ian Fawcett. 

Lily, Caroline, and Scarlett resumed their conversation about the Second Wizarding War, which Alice knew nothing about, so she resorted to her book. She was reading about the French defence when Bea spoke up:

“Is that book about chess?”

“Erm, yeah. Do wizards play chess?”

“Of course! Well, it’s wizard’s chess, so it’s a bit different, but it’s still chess. I’m assuming that’s a muggle book?”

“I’m a muggle. Of course it is.”

“You’re not a muggle, you’re a witch. Like me. Can I see your book?”

Alice slid the book so they could both see it, and Bea leaned in to read.

“The French Defence. It’s interesting, isn’t it? All the ways the game could go. What do you normally play?”

“To counter E4? I’ve tried the Sicilian, but I’m not very good at it. I usually just improvise.”

Bea looked horrified.

“What’s the use of having a chess book if you’re just going to improvise?”

“It’s the theory of it, really. I figured once I know enough, I won’t need a book.”

“But openings are different! There’s only so many viable options.”

“You’re not wrong,” Alice conceded, now a bit grumpy. Even though they had something in common, Bea still got on her nerves. Bea shushed her as the Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, started talking. 

“Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. The feast itself will begin shortly, but before it does, I would like to say a few words in honour of Albus Dumbledore: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!”

A few of the older students rolled their eyes.

“Is she always that silly?” Scarlett asked.

“She’s normally very serious,” an older girl sitting near them piped up.

“Oh, hi Blair! I didn’t see you there,” said Lily.

“Same to you! At least I’m not the only one with Gryffindor siblings anymore.”

“My sister’s in Gryffindor too!” Caroline interjected, “Her name’s Catherine. It’s her last year.”

“She plays Quidditch, doesn’t she?” Blair asked. Alice had heard Quidditch mentioned a couple times, but she still had no clue what it was.

“Yeah. She’s still cranky about James getting captain, wouldn’t stop talking about how they both started in the same year, and how she’s seeker, and all that nonsense. She won’t admit that he’s better than her, the arrogant prat.”

“Gryffindors. Arrogant, the whole lot of ‘em” Blair replied. Even Bea seemed to agree, and she nodded quietly. Just as Alice was going back to her book, the platters in front of them suddenly filled with food. She jumped a bit, which made Scarlett laugh again.

The great hall quieted as everyone dug into the magnificent feast. The food was amazing; Alice hoped every meal would be like this. Once conversation resumed, she learned that Quidditch was a game played on broomsticks. It sounded like a weird combination of basketball, football, and rugby, but somehow a lot more dangerous than all three. There were seven players, four balls, and six goalposts. Blair played as a chaser for the Ravenclaw team, which was captained by a girl named Sarah. Lily also knew how to play and intended to try out for the team as soon as there was an opening. First years couldn’t be on the team, but there were mandatory flying classes for them. It sounded fun, but scary. Alice wasn’t sure if she would like flying, but she hoped it was as exciting as Lily and Blair made it sound.

After a while, the dinner vanished and was replaced by deserts galore. Lily immediately dug into the treacle tart, Scarlett went for something that looked almost like oatmeal, Caroline served herself some sticky toffee pudding, and Bea was delicately eating a chocolate éclair. Alice didn’t know what to pick. There were so many options, and she was so full from dinner. In the end, she settled on a few scoops of strawberry ice cream, and everyone else began talking about classes. 

“Transfiguration is the hardest you lot will have to take, but the teacher, Professor Santos, is nice enough.” Blair said. As a fourth year, Blair knew who most of the teachers were, and was giving them some advice.

“Isn’t she the head of Slytherin?” Lily asked dubiously.

“Yeah, that doesn’t mean she’s not nice. What about your brother, isn’t he nice?”

“Fair point, but his friend Scorpius is creepy.”

“He’s just quiet. That doesn’t make him creepy.”

“It’s unnerving! He’s spent Christmas with us twice, try waking up at seven AM to find him already sitting by the fire. Not reading or anything, just… watching you. It’s creepy!”

“It’s called observing. Not creepy.”

The argument went on for a while. All the food was making Alice sleepy, and she worried she would doze off in her seat if nothing more eventful happened. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Professor McGonagall stood again, and gave another small speech. 

“I hope you all enjoyed the start-of-term feast, but I have a few more things to say before we all go to bed. The forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students. I truly do mean all students by that statement, and there are no exceptions,” she looked pointedly at the Gryffindor table as she said this, and Lily snickered. “I remind you not to do magic in the corridors between classes, as it only adds to the confusion. Please take care avoid the small swamp in the fifth floor corridor of the east wing as well. Quidditch trials will take place during the second week of the term. Please contact Madam Hooch if you are interested in playing for your house, and I remind you that first years are not permitted to have their own brooms. Now, Professor Flitwick, would you like to lead us in singing the school song?” A tiny old wizard stood up, cleared his throat, and flicked his wand. A silver streamer floated out of the end, and he said in a very squeaky voice:

“Pick your favorite tune and follow along!”  
The entire school sang:

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald,  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling,  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot.

It was a funny song, and Scarlett burst out laughing when they were all done. Everyone started getting up and wandering towards the doors.

“Ravenclaw first years, follow me!” A tall girl said over the commotion, “I’m Talia, one of your prefects.”

The entire table went in the same direction, so it wasn’t really necessary to follow Talia. They went up a lot of stairs, and finally came to a strange looking door. It had no doorknob, but instead just a simple bronze knocker shaped like an eagle. As the crowd approached, the eagle started talking.

“A parrot repeats all that it hears, yet never says a word. How can this be?”

The crowd was quiet for a moment. The door must open when someone answered the riddle, Alice realized. She liked riddles, but she hoped it didn’t ask a different riddle for every student.  
She was tired, and really wanted to sleep. Finally, Bea’s eyes lit up.

“I think I’ve got it!” she said. The entire crowd looked at her expectedly.

“The parrot is deaf! It can’t hear, so it never has anything to repeat back.”

Much to Alice’s relief, the door swung open, and everyone filed in. The room was beautiful. It was wide and round, with windows looking out in every direction. Off to the right, there was a nook with bookshelves going all the way up to the ceiling, with a few comfortable armchairs in the middle. The carpet was midnight blue, and the ceiling was painted to look like the night sky. Alice’s favourite colour was blue, and much to her delight Ravenclaw tower seemed to be full of it, in every shade, hue, and material. Opposite the library was a large bronze fireplace, where an enchanted blue fire burned quietly. Directly in front of them was a marble statue of a witch, who Talia explained was Rowenna Ravenclaw herself. To the left of the statue was another, smaller alcove, with a couch and two more chairs. To the right of the statue was a doorway, which Talia said led to the dormitories.

“You can always sleep down in the common room, if you’d like. There are some hammocks in that dresser,” she pointed to a mahogany dresser near the library, “and room to set them up over there.” She indicated the smaller alcove. A few older students were already getting hammocks and blankets out, or reading in the library, or sitting in front of the fire chatting quietly. There was an assortment of tables and chairs scattered about the room, but they remained unoccupied as the majority of the Ravenclaws headed towards bed. Alice herself was about to fall asleep and followed Talia as she showed them up to the first year girl’s dormitories. There were five four-poster beds, each hung with luxurious blue curtains and made up with blue comforters. There was another, smaller fireplace (not magical, unfortunately), and a door to a small bathroom on the left. Alice’s trunk was in front of the middle bed, with her backpack propped up against it. As everyone settled in, she noticed that clockwise they went Scarlett, Lily, Alice, Caroline, Bea. There was a table and a set of shelves to the left of every bed, and more windows in between each one. It was so late, and Alice was so sleepy that she didn’t even bother brushing her teeth before collapsing into her comfortable bed and falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I’ll try to update more consistently.  
> I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Year 1: First Classes

September 2, 2019

Bea’s alarm clock went off at six o’clock the next morning, waking up everyone except for Caroline.

“Bloody hell,” Scarlett mumbled from under her covers. Bea inhaled sharply at the foul language.

“Sorry, sorry, forgot to unset it…”

“We’re not supposed to be up for another two hours!” Lily complained. Caroline was still snoring.

“Go back to sleep, then. I’m going downstairs.” Bea retorted, and a few minutes later Alice heard the dorm room door opening and closing as Bea went down to the common room. Caroline snorted as the door slammed shut, but otherwise seemed fast asleep.

Alice rolled to look at the ceiling. _I’m a witch._ She told herself, for the millionth time. _I’m a witch, and I’m at a magic boarding school with my magic cousins, and I have a magic wand, and an owl._ It had taken most of the summer to come to terms with magic. She thought she had herself all ironed out before the letter came- She liked to play chess and she to read. She was the Junior Chess Champion three years in a row. Her favourite book was Matilda, it always had been. But that day in July, everything changed. It was Dad’s birthday, but other than that it was a normal Tuesday. But then the letter. The letter changed everything. It turned Alice’s world upside down. She’d always known she was different, of course. She could make things move if she concentrated. Sometimes things just happened, and Alice felt like it was somehow her fault. But the letter had confirmed it. Alice was magic, and she was going to go to a magic school with other magic people. Dad had turned white as a sheet when he saw the letter, then called Uncle Harry. They talked for what seemed like eternity, then later that afternoon Dad took Alice to London to shop for all of the odds and ends she would need for school, including her wand. It had taken a while, but eventually a laurel wood wand with a unicorn tail-hair core had chosen her. 

“The wand chooses the wizard,” Olivander had said. She wondered how that worked. Thinking about wands, and spells, and her first classes that day, Alice fell back asleep for another hour and a half before finally waking up for her first day at Hogwarts.

***

Alice and Lily went down for breakfast at 8. Well, they tried to go down for breakfast, but they ended up lost in the dungeons. 

“Stupid confusing castle,” Lily mumbled, as they tried to find the staircase back upstairs. “Why couldn’t they give us a map or something-” Her eyes widened, and she grabbed Alice’s arm. “That’s it! The map! I’ll get Hugo to nick it from James, and we’ll never get lost again! It’ll be amazing!”

“What map?” Alice was confused. A map would be helpful, but the older students had all said that parts of the castle moved around. She didn’t see how a map could help with that part.

“The Marauder’s Map! James steals it from Dad’s study every year, my granddad and his friends made it when they were in school.”

“Huh. You said Hugo could get it?”

“Probably. They’re both in Gryffindor, how hard could it be?”

“Okay, so we’ll get that map thing. But right now, we need to find our way back upstairs. We only have 20 minutes before breakfast ends.” Before Lily could reply, a familiar face walked around the corner.

“Oh, no.” Lily said, turning to leave.

“Hey, Albus!” Alice called. Lily rolled her eyes and turned around to face her brother.

“You got lost, didn’t you?” He said, raising his eyebrows at Lily.

“Yup. Now can you help us, please?” Lily said, a bit exasperated.

“Yeah, sure. Great hall?”

“Yup. Now can we hurry?”

Albus showed them where the staircase was, and told them where to go once they got to the top. Then he vanished, presumably to get to charms early.

“Classes don’t start for another 50 minutes. That’s way too early, even for Al. And charms are upstairs!” Lily grumbled as they entered the great hall.

“Who cares about Albus? We’re here, and I’m hungry.” The room smelled amazing. The platters were now filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, tomatoes, toast, and as many sauces and toppings as Alice could think of. The table was a lot less full than it had been the night before, and Alice and Lily easily found two empty spots to sit. No sooner had they sat down than an owl dropped a white envelope on Lily’s plate.

“Oh no.” Lily picked up the envelope, and it exploded in a shower of blue and bronze sparks, making them both jump.

“Oh no,” Lily said again, turning red as the last remaining blue and bronze fireworks exploded above their heads. “Mum!” She groaned.

“What’s wrong with your mum?” Alice asked.

“She sent me an exploding letter!” A piece of parchment fluttered down onto the table. Lily picked it up and turned an even darker shade of scarlet as she read the letter.

“What’s it say?”

“Just a congratulations, I miss you, et cetera. She didn’t have to do that! Dad is right there!”

“Yeah, but-”

“You didn’t get a letter, did you?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Dad lives here! You don’t have any siblings or parents here and you didn’t get a letter!”

“My parents don’t even know how to use owls! I probably won’t get mail at all.”

Lily opened her mouth to speak again but shut it quickly. She glared at Alice, then went back to her beans. Alice didn’t understand what Lily’s aversion to her family was. First it was her mum at the station, then Albus and James on the train, and Albus again that morning. And now the letter. None of it made sense. Lily’s family was wonderful, as far as Alice could tell, so why on earth did she seem to hate them so much? James she could understand. He was loud and boastful, and liked to tease, but he was still funny and never meant any harm. Alice could see him across the hall at the Gryffindor table, having an animated conversation with his friends. Aoife was sitting further down the table, listening to Hugo talk about something or another. He was waving his fork around absent-mindedly, and one of the tomatoes flew off and hit Aoife in the face. Alice could hear the laughter from across the hall, and she longed to be there with them, laughing together like on the train. Lily had been good company the day before, but now she was cold and angry, glaring at the butter dish as if it was responsible for their argument. Alice didn’t know how she’d survive if she and Lily were going to have a row every morning. _It’s my first day and I’m already feeling sorry for myself,_ she thought. She attacked her eggs, hoping that would make her feel better. It didn’t. 

Before too long, Talia came over with their schedules. Alice wished she had given them maps, too. They were going to get the Marauder’s Map later, of course, which would be immensely helpful, but they didn’t have it yet and they only had 40 minutes to get to their first class. It had taken almost 10 minutes to find all the right staircases to get to from the fifth floor down to the Great Hall, even with Albus’ help, and Alice assumed that finding specific classrooms would be much more difficult. She looked at her schedule, and saw that they had herbology first, with Gryffindor. At least she would get to see Aoife and Hugo. She tried to spot them again, but they had already gotten up to leave. Lily finished her last piece of toast, still looking at her schedule. She had jam dripping down her chin, but Alice didn’t mention it. She hoped Lily would notice it before they went to class, though. That would be embarrassing. 

Alice and Lily remained in an awkward truce for most of herbology. They made small talk with Aoife and Hugo in Herbology and listened to Hugo as he recounted the tomato incident from breakfast. Lily was almost talking to Alice normally again by the end of the class, but then someone pointed out the jam. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lily asked angrily, almost whispering as Professor Longbottom explained what they would be covering in class that year.

“I- I didn’t want-” Before she could come up with an excuse, Bea shushed her, and Lily rolled her eyes, turning back to Professor Longbottom.

Charms went just as horribly, but for different reasons. It was with Slytherin, which shouldn’t have been a problem, except Slytherin meant Lucasta Nott and her friends. Alice hadn’t thought much about Lucasta since the sorting, but throughout the lesson Lucasta and her friend Nathaniel, in particular, made it obvious that she thought Alice and a few other students Alice assumed were muggle-born were the scum of the earth. As they were entering the classroom, Nathaniel knocked into Alice like she wasn’t even there. Throughout the lesson, whenever one of the presumed muggle-born students didn’t know the answer to a question, he would interrupt. When asked why he was being so rude, Lucasta came to his defence:

“Sorry, professor, I’m sure he was only trying to help. Some of our classmates aren’t as educated as others.”

Professor Flitwick sighed. “Please raise your hand in future, Mister Avery. That will be one point from Slytherin.” Nathaniel looked furious. The professor finished talking about the curriculum for the year, then asked:

“Now, can anyone tell me how charms differ from transfiguration spells?” Both Alice and Lily raised their hands to answer, along with Lucasta and a few other students.

“Hmm, Miss Potter! Why don’t you tell us?”

“Transfiguration spells transform things into… well, erm, other things, and charms just make things act in a way they don’t normally.” She paused for a moment, thinking, “And also, there’s a lot more room for creativity with charms. With transfiguration, you have to be very precise.”

“Excellent, Miss Potter! Five points to Ravenclaw! I’m sure Professor Santos will enjoy having you in class later this week.” 

Lily beamed. The professor spoke about the creative potential of charms for a while, which was interesting to Alice, but many of the other students looked bored.

“Now, in this class we will not be covering any dark charms. Who can tell me what the three types of dark charms are?” Alice, Lily, and Lucasta all raised their hands again. This time, the professor called on Alice.

“There are curses, which are the worst, and jinxes, and… ” She paused for a moment, trying to remember the third. But before she could think of it, Nathaniel interrupted.

“Hexes. Honestly, even a child would know that.” He turned to Lucasta and whispered loud enough for Alice to hear: “How in the world did she get into Ravenclaw? She doesn’t know a thing!”

The insult stung. Alice’s mouth fell open. She could feel her face turning red with the heat of anger and fought the urge to walk over and punch Nathaniel in the face. She turned to Lily, who, by the looks of it, also heard what he said. She looked furious.

“He’s going to regret that,” she whispered to Alice through gritted teeth. Alice nodded, and looked back at Flitwick. He took another house point from Slytherin, which Alice was pretty sure wouldn’t change anything, and threatened to tell Professor Santos if Nathaniel couldn’t keep his mouth shut. 

Neither Alice nor Lily paid much attention for the rest of the class. Alice tried, but her mind kept returning to Nathaniel and Lucasta. His insult still rang in her ears. She doesn’t know a thing. It made her angry, furious almost. It cast away everything Alice liked about herself, everything she took pride in. _He’s wrong,_ she thought. _I know plenty._ But she didn’t know anything about the wizarding world. She hadn’t known that witches and wizards even existed until July. Everything was new and scary, and not much of it made sense. She hated not knowing things. She hated not knowing how any of it worked. And she really hated Nathaniel for saying it out loud. She had known her ignorance before, of course. She knew, coming from a Muggle family, that the wizarding world would be full of surprises. But she expected fun surprises, not scary ones. Not mean ones named Nathaniel.

It seemed that Lily was just as preoccupied. She was staring out the window instead of paying attention, occasionally looking back at Nathaniel and Lucasta, shaking her head, and then returning her attention to the window. Professor Flitwick had stopped asking the class questions, which made listening to him talk about the dangers of messing with hexes and curses extremely boring. Nathaniel and Lucasta seemed to be paying perfect attention, taking notes with their quills. Occasionally Nathaniel would whisper something to Lucasta, who kept shushing him, and the class droned on. 

After what seemed like an eternity, charms was over. Alice left as quickly as possible, wanting to avoid any possible interaction with Lucasta and Nathaniel. She didn’t even wait for Lily, she just followed a crowd of older Ravenclaws up to the fifth floor. She tried to pay attention to the route they took to get there, but she quickly lost track. She was still thinking about Nathaniel and Lucasta, and charms, and her fight with Lily at breakfast. She would have to ask Lily about it eventually, but she didn’t want to risk losing her first friend so quickly. Eventually Alice and the group ended up at the common room door, where there was already a large group of students waiting. She recognized Blair and Talia in the crowd, along with a few other students she had seen the night before. As the new group approached, the doorknocker spoke:

“I get wet the more I dry. What am I?” Alice thought about it. It didn’t make much sense. How could something get wet as it dries? If she dried off after a shower, she couldn’t get more wet. All of the water ended up in the towel or in the air. _Wait,_ she thought, _What about the towel? The towel is drying me and getting wet in the process!_

“I’ve got it!” She exclaimed, pushing to the front of the crowd. “It’s a towel!”

The doorknocker smiled, (can doorknockers smile?) and the door swung open, letting the crowd of Ravenclaws into the tower. 

Alice ran up the stairs to the dormitory as fast as she could with her heavy book bag. She wanted to talk to Lily about what happened in charms, and maybe their argument from that morning if she felt up to it. She deposited her books from the morning on the empty shelf next to her bed and rummaged through her trunk for her defence against the dark arts book and her transfiguration book. Her trunk had been meticulously organized the night before, but the chaos of the morning had left it extremely messy. She finally found the books, and double checked her bag before making her way back to the dining hall. 

She only got lost three times on the way down, which was a major improvement from the morning. Having a map would still be immensely helpful, but Alice had more important things to think about. There was Lily’s family issue, for starters, and then the Nathaniel-Lucasta situation. She knew she had to do something about it. It wasn’t a matter of just her, either. All the muggle-borns in her class had been affected. She needed to do something for all of them. 

Alice entered the great hall with a sense of purpose. She had a mission to accomplish.

**Author's Note:**

> My personal computer was broken for a while, so I’m had to do everything from a school computer and my phone. The school has AO3 blocked, and the formatting on mobile is really hard to work with. Neither word nor google docs really worked either, which doesn't make any sense because it was a GOOGLE chromebook. I tried to get stuff written, but I didn't make a ton of progress. I'll post soon, don't worry!
> 
> I've had to make a few tiny updates to the first few chapters (dates, minor character names, etc) because I'm terrible at planning, and I've renamed the chapters to make them easier to sort through as it gets longer. Sorry if you got here early and I keep changing things! I'm still learning, so let me know if you have any suggestions!


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